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Cued Overeating

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Handbook of Behavior, Food and Nutrition

Abstract

The cued overeating model that is presented in this chapter states that cues that reliably signal highly palatable food intake – such as the sight, smell, and taste of highly palatable foods – and also the context in which (over)eating takes place – like place and time and feelings and thoughts – may start to act as conditioned stimuli. This means that soon after, the cues alone can trigger food cue reactivity and food cravings. The learned cue reactivity increases the probability of (over)eating and might sabotage dieting. It is argued that for successful dieting it is necessary to extinguish learned cue reactivity. To reach that goal, the way of dieting is relevant: dieters who avoid highly palatable food cues and dieters who intermittently keep eating high-calorie high-fat palatable foods will remain cue reactive. Only dieters who expose themselves to highly palatable food cues without eating them are expected to show the desired extinction of cue reactivity. Extinction of cue reactivity can be accelerated by prolonged cue exposure with response prevention. During the exposure the overeater is exposed to the cues (e.g., smell and sight of tasty foods) that elicit appetite or craving. The exposure is long lasting and without eating. Whether cue exposure with response prevention is an effective intervention that promotes successful dieting remains to be studied.

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Abbreviations

WHO:

World Health Organisation

CS:

Conditioned stimulus (= cues)

US:

Unconditioned stimulus

UR:

Unconditioned response

CR:

Conditioned response

CBT:

Cognitive behaviour therapy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Anita Jansen

Authors
  1. Anita Jansen
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  2. Remco C. Havermans
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  3. Chantal Nederkoorn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anita Jansen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Nutrition & Dietetics, King's College, Stamford St. 150, London, SE1 9NH, United Kingdom

    Victor R. Preedy

  2. Arizona Health Science Center, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public, University of Arizona, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. Room 4335, Tucson, 85724-5155, Arizona, USA

    Ronald Ross Watson

  3. University of the West of Scotland, Ayr Campus, Ayr, KA8 0SR, United Kingdom

    Colin R. Martin

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Jansen, A., Havermans, R.C., Nederkoorn, C. (2011). Cued Overeating. In: Preedy, V., Watson, R., Martin, C. (eds) Handbook of Behavior, Food and Nutrition. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-92271-3_92

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-92271-3_92

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-92271-3

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